


Dustin Kropp, animal speaker

by esperink



Series: [generic superhero au title] [1]
Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Backstory, Gen, Superpowers, i have absolutely no idea how to tag this aaaaaa, i'm too tired for this, this is not an exciting fic it's just part of the series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-26 19:28:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17752061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/esperink/pseuds/esperink
Summary: Dustin insists that he can understand animals.





	Dustin Kropp, animal speaker

**Author's Note:**

> Dustin's power in this au is uhh allspeak y'all.

To anybody else, it looked like Dustin was pretending to talk to a squirrel at his cousin’s house. The five-year-old was on his hands and knees, peering at the creature as it chattered up at him.

“Ma,” he called over his shoulder, “Ma, he’s hungry!”

His mother glanced over at him but only saw him crouched next to a squirrel. “Dustin, sweetie, why don’t you go play with Christine?” she said, before returning her attention back to her brother.

Dustin looked across the yard, where Christine was spinning around. He got up and walked over to her.

Christine stopped spinning and waved.

“Do you know what squirrels eat?” he asked in lieu of a greeting.

“Nuts, don’t they?” Christine asked, tapping her chin. “I think we have some!” She ran into the house and returned with a handful of peanuts moments later. She looked around and saw that Dustin had gone back to the squirrel so she went over to him.

“He’s hungry,” Dustin told her, gesturing to the squirrel. Christine looked at him, confused somewhat, before he took her by the arm to pull her closer to the creature. He took the peanuts from her hands.

The chattering, after a moment, became almost understandable. “He’s talking!” she said excitedly, clapping her hands.

“Yeah!” Dustin said, pleased that someone else could understand the animal.

Both children crouched next to the squirrel to listen to it talk.

“See, Christine can hear him talk too,” Dustin said when his mother told him it was time to leave.

“That’s nice sweetie,” Mrs. Kropp said, clearly not believing him. “We have to go now, your dad is almost off of work. Say bye to your cousin.”

Dustin waved goodbye to Christine and her dads before grabbing his mom’s hand and walking to the car with her.

Christine looked back to the squirrel, but, she discovered, as soon as Dustin was out of the area, its chatters went back to being just that, chatters. She frowned.

* * *

Dustin would occasionally insist that yes, he could definitely understand and talk to animals. His parents would humor him, until he got to age of eleven. The last time he got to mention it was when his family was getting a dog.

He’d gotten to pick out the dog, and help pick out the supplies, but his parents had drawn the line at him insisting that the dog wanted the more expensive brand of collars.

“But it’s the one she wants!” Dustin said.

“Dustin!” Dustin looked down. “I understand you might want some more colorful collars, but this is what we’re getting,” his mother said firmly. “The dog can’t want anything. And it can’t talk, so even if it did want that specific collar, it wouldn’t be able to tell you.” 

Dustin fiddled with the collar before slowly putting it back.

His mother looked like she regretted being firm with him. “Do you want to pick out a toy for her?” she asked gently.

He nodded and turned to the dog that they’d gotten, before nodding at her and picking out a little hot dog chew toy. He dropped it into the basket. 

After that incident, he stopped talking about being able to talk to animals. He kept quiet about it, until a man who reminded him a lot of Keanu Reeves asked him if he wanted to be in a group of heros.

**Author's Note:**

> come yell at me on tumblr: esperinkdraws
> 
> (really though if you want to talk abt the superhero au.... *eyes emoji*)


End file.
